If years of earning and redeeming points and miles have taught me one thing, it’s this: points create the most value when you use them regularly, not when you hoard them for one big splurge.
I’ve redeemed an estimated hundred million-plus miles and points over the years, and my family and I hold around 150 credit cards. and we don’t churn them. Yes, I realize we’re atypical. But this nerdy hobby has taken me to 130+ countries, let me take my kids everywhere when they were young, and now lets me book spontaneous weekend trips without a second thought.
How I redeem points has changed with my age, where I live, and who I travel with. The principle hasn’t.
Here’s what most people don’t realize: you don’t need 150 cards or millions of miles to make points work for you.
Just last week, I booked a last-minute round trip to the Bahamas for 9,000 miles. It wasn’t a “unicorn” redemption, just a simple, flexible trip I didn’t have to pay cash for.
For decades, points and miles were built for road warriors and corporate travelers. Everyone else saved for a once-in-a-lifetime trip or gave up trying to find flights and hotels worth their hard-earned points.
The game has changed.
A family putting $50,000–$60,000 a year on credit cards can now build a meaningful balance faster than ever. And over the past few years, airline, bank, and hotel programs have made points easier to use in plenty of everyday situations:
Dynamic pricing: Redemptions can start around 3,000 miles, and seats bookable with miles are available on almost every flight, although prices vary.
Free cancellation: Most U.S. programs let you cancel tickets booked with miles without penalty.
Online search and booking: No more calling in or guessing what’s available.
Bigger sign-up bonuses: 100,000-point (or more) offers are now common. Twenty years ago, 30,000 points was considered amazing.
Transfer bonuses: Bonuses of 15–30% come around regularly across programs.
Richer earnings: It’s easier than ever to earn 2X points on everything and 3–5X in bonus categories. That’s far beyond the 1–1.25X cards of the past.
Nassau, Bahamas. NICHOLAS KLEIN / ISTOCK
Put simply, points and miles have become a practical travel currency, not just a perk for frequent flyers or big spenders.
That’s why I stopped obsessing over cents per point. The real value is what points let you say yes to.
Yes to seeing family.
Yes to a spontaneous weekend getaway.
Yes to flexibility.
And every trip booked with points is cash that stays in your account, earning interest.
If you can find a seat bookable with miles on almost any flight today, why not fly more often?
The era of saving points for one big splurge is over. Everyday points should mean everyday travel, and it can start with something as simple as a weekend getaway booked with points.
Japan dominated international flight searches on PointsYeah in September 2026. Routes connecting the United States and Tokyo accounted for four of the top 10 spots.
As part of our monthly series, we’re taking a look at the routes PointsYeah users searched most frequently during the previous month, along with a few interesting findings from the data.
10 Most-Searched International Routes
Here’s how the top 10 international routes ranked in September 2026.
Ranking
Route
1
Los Angeles (LAX) → Tokyo (TYO)
2
New York (NYC) → Tel Aviv (TLV)
3
New York (NYC) → Tokyo (TYO)
4
San Francisco (SFO) → Tokyo (TYO)
5
San Francisco (SFO) → Taipei (TPE)
6
Delhi (DEL) → San Francisco (SFO)
7
Mumbai (BOM) → San Francisco (SFO)
8
Hong Kong (HKG) → San Francisco (SFO)
9
Hong Kong (HKG) → Los Angeles (LAX)
10
Seattle (SEA) → Tokyo (TYO)
These rankings reflect flight searches conducted on PointsYeah during September 2026, not completed bookings. NYC and TYO represent citywide airport searches rather than individual airports.
Tokyo Leads, With San Francisco Close Behind
Los Angeles–Tokyo was the most-searched international route on PointsYeah in September. It was followed by New York–Tel Aviv and New York–Tokyo.
Tokyo appeared four times in the top 10, with routes connecting the Japanese capital to Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle.
San Francisco was another popular city. It appeared in five of the top 10 routes. Beyond Tokyo, users searched for flights connecting San Francisco with Taipei, Delhi, Mumbai, and Hong Kong.
New York–Tel Aviv was the only route outside Asia to make the list, ranking second overall.
Perhaps more surprising was that not a single route between the United States and Europe cracked the top 10.
Search These Routes With PointsYeah
Of course, a route being popular doesn’t necessarily mean it’s inexpensive to book with points. And searches don’t always turn into confirmed bookings.
International flights can vary considerably in price depending on the airline, loyalty program, and cabin. The same route might require substantially different amounts of points depending on which program you use, even when the flights are operated by the same airline.
You can use PointsYeah to view flights across different airline loyalty programs and see what’s available for your next trip.
New York and California dominated domestic flight searches on PointsYeah in September 2026. Routes connecting the two accounted for three of the top 10 spots.
In fact, seven of the 10 most-searched domestic routes involved the New York area, while transcontinental flights made up the majority of the list.
As part of a monthly series, we’re taking a look at the routes PointsYeah users searched most frequently during the previous month, along with a few interesting findings from the data.
10 Most-Searched Domestic Routes
Here’s how the top 10 domestic routes ranked in September 2026.
Ranking
Route
1
Newark (EWR) → San Francisco (SFO)
2
Los Angeles (LAX) → New York (NYC)
3
New York (NYC) → San Francisco (SFO)
4
Miami (MIA) → New York (NYC)
5
Honolulu (HNL) → Los Angeles (LAX)
6
Boston (BOS) → San Francisco (SFO)
7
Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) → New York (NYC)
8
Fort Lauderdale (FLL) → New York (NYC)
9
New York (NYC) → Seattle (SEA)
10
Boston (BOS) → Los Angeles (LAX)
These rankings reflect flight searches conducted on PointsYeah during September 2026, not completed bookings. NYC represents a citywide airport search, while EWR refers specifically to Newark.
New York and Cross-Country Flights Lead the Way
The most-searched route was between Newark and San Francisco, followed by Los Angeles–New York and New York–San Francisco.
That pattern continued elsewhere on the list. Boston–San Francisco, New York–Seattle, and Boston–Los Angeles also made the top 10.
There were a few exceptions to the cross-country theme.
Miami and Fort Lauderdale both appeared alongside New York, while Honolulu–Los Angeles came in fifth. It’s the only route involving Hawaii to crack the top 10.
And just outside the rankings was Orlando–New York, which finished in 11th place.
Search These Routes With PointsYeah
A route being popular doesn’t necessarily mean it’s inexpensive to book with points. And searches don’t always turn into confirmed bookings.
Airlines can charge very different amounts for the same flight, particularly when booking through different loyalty programs. Depending on the route, it might also be worth checking nearby airports or adjusting travel dates to find a better option.
You can use PointsYeah to view flights across different airline loyalty programs and see what’s available for your next trip.
When U.S. Bank launched points transfers to airline partners less than a month ago, one addition caught my eye: Ethiopian Airlines ShebaMiles.
It got me wondering whether ShebaMiles could be the next non-U.S. airline program to make a bigger push into the U.S. points and miles market, following programs such as Avios, Aeroplan, LifeMiles, Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, and Japan Airlines Mileage Bank.
Airline points and miles are a multibillion-dollar business and a reliable cash cow for carriers. Airlines sell billions of dollars’ worth of miles to banks and other partners every year, and during COVID, several pledged their loyalty programs as collateral to raise billions in cash. More recently, Air Canada sold a 25% stake in Aeroplan for C$2.5 billion.
The U.S. is by far the largest miles market globally, followed distantly by Brazil. Given how profitable selling miles can be, more and more non-U.S. airlines want a piece of that cash flow.
Domestically, the U.S. “Big Three” each pursue their own strategy, backed by a physical presence across the entire country. Foreign airlines, by contrast, have a much smaller footprint in the U.S., so they lean on miles sales and bank partnerships to generate cash and attract members from the world’s largest points and miles market.
Origins of the Non-U.S. Airline Playbook
The strategy was pioneered by British Airways Avios, under International Airlines Group (IAG), and later refined by LifeMiles after its parent airline, Avianca, joined Star Alliance in 2012. The formula included:
Buy-miles promotions
Bank transfer partnerships and promotions
Intentionally curated redemption “sweet spots” to generate word-of-mouth buzz, particularly for partner redemptions
Change, cancellation, and partner-redemption fees as additional revenue streams
Other non-U.S. and regional carriers later adopted a similar model to attract members outside their home markets. Air France-KLM’s Flying Blue and Air Canada’s Aeroplan are chief among them, particularly because the U.S. market dwarfs their home markets in size.
MTCURADO / ISTOCK
COVID as a Turning Point
When COVID hit, people stopped traveling and airlines across the industry were suffering. Several major airlines turned to their loyalty programs as collateral to raise billions in cash, making the value of these businesses impossible to ignore.
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is a prime example of how programs have evolved since then. In just a few years, it transformed from a currency centered largely around Virgin Atlantic flights into one of the more prominent programs in the space by expanding bank transfer partnerships, joining SkyTeam, launching online partner redemptions, and shifting to dynamic pricing on its own flights and select partners.
As a side note, Alaska Airlines’ Atmos Rewards program took a slightly different path. Still U.S.-based and historically regional, it broadened the program’s appeal by pairing a highly competitive elite program on the West Coast with a unique co-brand credit card, a broad range of airline partners, and other benefits that extend beyond Alaska’s traditional footprint.
The Next Movers
More recently, the spotlight has shifted to Japan Airlines Mileage Bank, which has added partnerships with Bilt, Capital One, and most recently Citi.
Now, it may be Ethiopian Airlines ShebaMiles’ turn. The program has already checked several boxes:
Star Alliance membership
A website supporting partner redemptions
Buy-miles promotions
Its first U.S. bank partnership
If ShebaMiles continues following the playbook used by programs such as Avios, LifeMiles, Aeroplan, Flying Blue, Flying Club, and JAL Mileage Bank over the past 15 years, I think there are several likely next moves:
Creating/Maintaining a few redemption sweet spots to generate buzz, potentially while continuing to use an award chart for the time being
Adding more bank partners with attractive pricing for those partners, potentially below 130 basis points per mile
Launching bank transfer promotions
Introducing multi-tier and eventually dynamic redemptions on Ethiopian’s own flights, with some inventory reserved exclusively for ShebaMiles members rather than relying on the current single-tier, inventory-based system
Improving customer service and adding online changes, or at least cancellations, paired with change and cancellation fees
Adjusting fees over time as members become more familiar with the program
Africa has also become an increasingly popular destination in recent years. I’ve personally visited the continent six times over the past 15 years and traveled through about half of it.
There are very few places Ethiopian Airlines doesn’t fly across Africa today, apart from some North and Southern African markets served by partners such as EgyptAir and Airlink. That’s the result of a network Ethiopian began building years ago.
Fathala Wildlife Reserve. TROY LIU / POINTS INSIDER
Sure, United MileagePlus, Air Canada Aeroplan, and Turkish Miles&Smiles can already be used to book Ethiopian flights, but those programs only have access to the award inventory Ethiopian makes available to partners.
If ShebaMiles eventually introduces multi-tier redemptions on Ethiopian’s own flights, with additional inventory reserved exclusively for its own members, that could become a real competitive advantage.
U.S. customers would have another option when choosing a miles program, and I’ve never been more bullish on the future of this industry as more banks and programs enter the market.
And with ShebaMiles becoming more relevant in the U.S., we’ve added the program to PointsYeah Live Search, making it possible to search ShebaMiles award availability alongside other supported programs.
If you want to know where people traveled this summer, those numbers aren’t particularly hard to find.
Airlines know how many passengers they carried. Hotels know how many rooms they filled. Tourism boards spend plenty of time counting visitors.
All of those numbers tell us where people went. Award searches tell us something different. They show where people were thinking about going next.
PointsYeah analyzed millions of award searches made between June 1 and August 15, 2026, to see which international routes travelers searched most often. Not every search turns into a trip, of course. But in the aggregate, they offer a fascinating snapshot of what travelers had on their minds this summer.
And routes to one part of the world appeared far more often than anywhere else.
Where Travelers Were Searching Abroad This Summer
Here are the 20 international routes that appeared most often in award searches made through PointsYeah this summer.
One thing to keep in mind is that each direction is counted separately. Someone searching Seoul (ICN) to Los Angeles (LAX), for example, may be looking for the return flight of a trip that started in Los Angeles.
Ranking
Route
1
Los Angeles (LAX) → Tokyo (TYO)
2
New York City (NYC) → Tel Aviv (TLV)
3
San Francisco (SFO) → Tokyo (TYO)
4
New York City (NYC) → Tokyo (TYO)
5
Seattle (SEA) → Tokyo (TYO)
6
San Francisco (SFO) → Taipei (TPE)
7
Los Angeles (LAX) → Taipei (TPE)
8
Chicago (ORD) → Tokyo (TYO)
9
London (LON) → New York City (NYC)
10
Seoul (ICN) → Los Angeles (LAX)
11
Athens (ATH) → New York City (NYC)
12
Hong Kong (HKG) → San Francisco (SFO)
13
Hong Kong (HKG) → Los Angeles (LAX)
14
Seattle (SEA) → Taipei (TPE)
15
New York City (NYC) → Taipei (TPE)
16
Seoul (ICN) → San Francisco (SFO)
17
Seoul (ICN) → Seattle (SEA)
18
Hong Kong (HKG) → New York City (NYC)
19
Delhi (DEL) → San Francisco (SFO)
20
Paris (CDG) → Los Angeles (LAX)
It doesn’t take much studying to spot the pattern.
Tokyo Is Extremely Popular
Tokyo appears five times in the top 20 most-searched international routes, more than any other destination.
The searches came from across the U.S.: Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO), New York City (NYC), Seattle (SEA), and Chicago (ORD).
Different starting points, same destination.
Japan’s popularity isn’t exactly a new phenomenon. International visitors have returned in enormous numbers in recent years. For Americans, increased airline capacity across the Pacific has also made the country easier to reach from more cities.
Then there are the reasons that don’t fit neatly into an airline schedule. The favorable exchange rate. The food. The rail network. The mix of enormous cities, smaller towns, culture, and nature that makes it relatively easy to build several very different trips around one country.
For some, Japan has also become less of a once-in-a-lifetime destination and more of a place worth returning to.
And the search patterns suggest plenty are still trying to get there.
SEANPAVONEPHOTO / ISTOCK
Japan Was Only Part of the Story
Fourteen of the 20 most-searched international routes connected North America with destinations in Asia.
Taipei appears four times. Seoul and Hong Kong each appear three times. Delhi makes the list as well. Just beyond the top 20 were searches involving Bangkok, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, and other destinations throughout the region.
That’s a much bigger story than Japan alone.
There isn’t one clear-cut type of trip tying those places together, either. Some are enormous business and aviation hubs. Some draw travelers for food and history. Others have become popular jumping-off points for exploring elsewhere in the region.
What stands out is how often the same Asian destinations appear from different North American cities.
SEANPAVONEPHOTO / ISTOCK
Europe Is More Complicated
Only three European cities appear among the top 20 routes, with London, Athens, and Paris making the list. But that doesn’t necessarily mean travelers were less interested in Europe.
North America has far more nonstop routes to Europe than it does across the Pacific. That spreads searches for Europe across more city pairs, while searches for Asia are more likely to pile up on a smaller number of major routes.
So the regional comparison isn’t quite as simple as the top 20 makes it look. What is clear is that individual routes to Asia, particularly Japan, repeatedly rose to the top.
Then there’s the route sitting at No. 2.
New York City (NYC) to Tel Aviv (TLV) ranks behind only Los Angeles (LAX) to Tokyo, placing it ahead of every other route involving Tokyo, Taipei, Seoul, Hong Kong, or Europe.
It’s the most notable outlier in the top 20.
Searches Capture the Trip Before the Trip
Award searches aren’t bookings.
Someone can search Tokyo today, Paris tomorrow, and Bangkok the day after that. The award seats they find might disappear. Their dates might change. They may decide the trip is too expensive or get cold feet and go somewhere else.
But that uncertainty is also what makes the data interesting.
Passenger statistics capture travelers after they’ve made their decisions. Search data catches them earlier, while they’re still considering all the possibilities.
For this stretch of summer, individual routes to Asia dominated the top of the list, with Japan standing out most. The rankings don’t tell us that Asia was more popular than Europe overall, but they do show where searches were most concentrated.
Eventually, that’ll change.
Holiday travel will replace summer vacations. Ski destinations will start appearing more frequently. Before long, travelers will be searching for spring break and summer 2027. And we’ll soon get another look at where everyone wants to go next.
DOCTOREGG / ISTOCK
Where to Next?
If there’s one practical takeaway from the rankings, it’s that plenty of other travelers may be looking for the same trip you are.
Award availability can change quickly, particularly around busy travel periods. Searching earlier gives you more time to compare dates, airports, and programs before committing to a trip.
And if a destination on this list has you thinking about somewhere new, that’s probably reason enough to take a look.
